


Two Mess Ups In A Row

by buttaerfly



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, High School, Racism, Slurs, Soccer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-18
Updated: 2017-01-18
Packaged: 2018-09-18 09:55:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9379349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buttaerfly/pseuds/buttaerfly
Summary: Every time the team loses, Coach Dickerson punishes them. This time, punishment is much much different.





	

The crowd had fallen silent, all eyes on one player, Sebastian Garcia. It was fifteen seconds until the end of the game, and Carlos Reyes High School was one point away from winning the game, one point away from going to state championships. The team had been awarded a free kick, and all the man had to do was make it into the goal. Sebastian could feel every single pair of eyes staring at him. He closed his eyes, drawing in a deep breath, preparing to kick. He drew his leg back, stepping forward, and kicking. As soon as his cleat made contact with the ball, he closed his eyes again. He waited. Waiting for the cheers, waiting for his team mates to rush onto the field. There was nothing. When Sebastian opened his eyes again, he could see Coach Dickerson's disappointing look. He knew what that meant.

Then next day, the entire team was back on the same field they had lost on, but this time not to play. But to be punished. They had become so used to this procedure they dared not to protest, wanting to get this over this as quickly as possible. The first punishment exercise was push up, followed by squats then running, to be repeated over and over until Coach was satisfied, until the teams bodies ached, and Coach thought they had learned their lesson. Today was going to go for longer, Coach had said so. The sun was beaming down already, and it was only 8 am and the thermometer was already pushing 85 degrees. Coach called up the team captain, Ramirez, up to the front to lead the group and do the cadence for push ups, going slow per Coach's orders. 

They had been pushing for a long time, probably 30 minutes by now, Sebastian could feel it in his arms, as they trembled when he went down and shook when he came back up. Coach probably had had enough of Ramires's voice, because he caught the group mid push up, "Go do your run. Garcia, come with me." Everyone else but Sebastian got up and stormed onto the track, while Garcia got up slowly before making his way to Coach Dickerson. When he reached him, Coach grabbed him by the shoulders tightly, pulling him closer. "No listen here, you filthy wetback, you're the reason we lost the game." Fury was evident in his eyes, in his grip, in his everything. "Now, you're going to run that track until you faint, and every then, you're going to run that track until I'm satisfied. Be lucky I even kept you on this team after that." Coach let him go, pushing Sebastian down with so much force that he fell on the ground. "Yes, coach." And then he took off running.

When Sebastian returned home, finally, he laid down on the couch in his living room, Coach Dickerson's words repeated over and over in his head. His mother came in, greeting her son cheerfully, "How was practice?"

"Mama, what is a wetback?" Sebastian turned away, embarrassed that in he was a senior now and he still asked his mother what certain words meant. His mother had stopped in her track, her optimistic demeanor gone. "Where did you hear that?"

"Coach."  
"Don't go to practice tomorrow, I need to talk to your father about this." His mother sounded so serious, Sebastian knew to follow her orders verbatim, even though it meant he might lose his position on the team. Two mess ups in a row.


End file.
